SUNY Oswego Athletics can officially put the first-ever Lakers Athletics Challenge in the record books. Surpassing the initial goal of 400 alumni-athlete donors only halfway through the challenge, alumni-athletes continued to impress.

By the end of the four-month fundraising challenge, a total of 619 alumni-athletes, current and former coaches and current student-athletes donated $85,562 to SUNY Oswego.

At the 400 donor mark, Dan Scaia ’68, a member of the 1966 men’s championship soccer team and Oswego Alumni Association board member, gave $25,000 to the Athletics Department to establish the Dan Scaia ’68 Student Athlete Excellence Fund that directly benefits student-athletes.

“The Lakers Athletics Challenge exceeded my expectations,” Scaia said. “Thank you to everyone who participated and to Nancy Smith Salisbury ’93 for offering an additional gift to ensure the success of the first-ever challenge. It is such a wonderful feeling to see our alumni stepping up and giving back to Oswego State.”

After the college secured the initial 400 donors in Scaia’s challenge, Salisbury, a member of the women’s field hockey team from 1989-92 and former Oswego Alumni Association board member, issued a second challenge. If a total of 600 current and former athletes made gifts, she would give $15,000 to The Fund for Oswego.

“I loved providing the motivation for a late-game rally in this challenge,” Salisbury said. “I knew my fellow Lakers would step up to meet the new goal. As athletes, we’re naturally competitive, and this was a fun way to use that drive to benefit the college and keep us in the game—long after some of us have retired our green and gold jerseys!”

To spur the challenge, the men’s and women’s teams with the highest alumni participation rate would each receive $1,000. In the end, the men’s swimming and diving team and the women’s basketball team had the highest participation rates, with 15.1 and 14.4 percent, respectively.

“Our alumni-athletes are competitive, so this was a great way to get them engaged with us,” said Sue Viscomi, Oswego’s athletic director. “They could follow the progress online and see whose team was leading. We’re very pleased with the results, and we are very appreciative of everyone’s participation and especially grateful to Dan Scaia. His gift will enhance our leadership programming for our student-athletes.”

In total, the Lakers Athletics Challenge raised $125,562 to support success in competition, in the classroom and in the community.

“We are grateful to our alumni-athletes, current student-athletes and our current and former coaches who showed their Lakers pride and participated in this challenge,” said Joy Westerberg Knopp ’92, director of annual giving. “Gifts to The Fund for Oswego support our student-athletes on and off the field as well as a range of other programs.”

The indoor tennis courts inside a renovated Romney Field House opened last season, giving the Lakers a home-court advantage in several ways.

Nicole Leader ’14

For one thing, the ball has less bounce on the synthetic turf surface than it would on a regular hard court. Oswego’s tennis players can practice on it every day and get used to its quirkiness.

For another thing, the weather is less of a factor in matches. No longer will matches be canceled by pouring rain or lake-effect snow.

But the biggest advantage, saidSam Carges ’14, is the sense of ownership. Last spring, his team was the first to play a full season on Romney’s indoor courts.

“We had the [outdoor] tennis courts, but we got in Romney and we felt like these were our courts,” said Carges, who now works in SUNY Oswego’s sports information office. “A lot of our games [in previous seasons] had to get canceled because weather conditions were so bad. We’d have seasons that would be five matches. But once Romney opened, we got to play every match.”

Winter weather typically sticks around through the men’s spring season. The toughest condition was often the wind, which whips across Lake Ontario and blasts through the campus. Richard Nelson ’70 M’73 CAS’76 had great success on the outdoor courts and remembers how the wind would wreak havoc on his opponents.

“They were good courts when the wind would stop. The wind didn’t usually stop,” said Nelson, a member of the Oswego Athletic Hall of Fame, who recorded more points for the team championship in a three-year span than any other player at SUNY Oswego.

“There’s no way you could do a correct serve where you reach up and snap it or anything like that,” Nelson said.

Playing with the wind at your back was a different matter, he said. Opponents would smash the ball but barely get it over the net.

Sam Carges ’14

“Maybe they’ll overhit sometimes and hit it long or out with the wind. That was about the only way you’re going to win the point,” Nelson said.

Student-athletes and the college’s Athletics Department are looking forward to all of the opportunities and benefits that a new turf field and stadium will bring starting next summer.

In September, the college announced the construction of an NCAA-compliant 225-by-360-foot all-weather synthetic turf field along with a press box, bleachers for 1,000 fans and full stadium lighting to be completed by the summer of 2015.

“Having a turf facility for our athletics program will be an invaluable resource,” said Director of Athletics Sue Viscomi. “Given the weather challenges, having a synthetic surface with lights affords us much more flexibility with both practices and games. It will provide our student-athletes the opportunity to compete on equal footing with our opponents.”

The $2.37 million turf facility will be located between the two game fields for soccer and softball, across Sheldon Avenue from Romney Field House.

Appel Osborne Landscape Architecture consulted for the project while Robert H. Law Inc. was awarded the bid and began preparations to the site in the fall. The college’s Office of Major Projects is overseeing the project with Bob Lloyd ’81 M’90 as project manager.

On the turf, lines for soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse and field hockey will be permanently inlaid on the playing surface. The center logo will be Oswego State athletics’ word mark, which will stretch from just above one lacrosse offensive zone to the other.

Across from the bleachers, on the opposite side of the facility, will be a brand-new 16-foot LED scoreboard with a color electronic message display. Spread out on each side of the scoreboard will be two lighting structures, which will be mirrored on the bleacher side as well.

The improvements will dramatically increase opportunities to widen the visibility of field sports at SUNY Oswego, accommodating more fans at events and media to broadcast games.

Over the years, Oswegonians have received their diplomas in Romney Field House, Laker Hall, the Richardson Theatre downtown, and the new Campus Center convocation center.

The 1941 class graduated on the steps of Sheldon Hall because the auditorium had been destroyed by fire. The Centennial Class of 1961 graduated in an outdoor ceremony. And no matter how big the graduating classes get — this year’s May Sesquicentennial class numbered 1,400 — one unique feature of Oswego Commencements endures: Each student’s name is read aloud as graduates cross the stage to receive congratulations from their dean and the college president.